Jan 14, 2011
Jan 11, 2011
Plasma Gasification
Image via WikipediaWhat is Plasma Gasification?
In plasma gasification, fuel or waste is fed to a reactor vessel where an electrically generated plasma at a temperature of 20,000 C° is present. When the fuel or waste is exposed to the plasma it is heated to a very high temperature (>2,000C°), which causes the organic compounds in the fuel or waste to dissociate into very simple molecules such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water vapour and methane. These simple molecules, that are all gases, are allowed to continuously flow from the reactor to gas cooling and cleaning equipment. Ash and other inorganic material present in the fuel or waste is melted down to a complex liquid silicate that flows to the bottom of the reaction vessel.
Idea behind Gasification Furnaces
Image by jamelah via Flickr
Different Gasification images
Instead of using gas or gel fuel, these stoves burn scrap wood, grains and pellets. Most pellets are made from 100% recycled sawdust, but can also be made from wood chips, bark, agricultural crop waste, recycled paper or other organic materials.
Extremely efficient, dust free, smokeless with virtually free of toxins, today’s stoves burn much cleaner than older models. They’re easy to use and are better for the environment than gas, propane or oil furnaces. In addition, they are less costly to run.
Unlike combustion processes, gasification is an “oxygen-starving” process that converts solid fuels such as biomass, pellets, etc. into gaseous fuels. Gasification is uniquely capable of producing not only heat and power, but also can be used with downstream catalysts to convert the syngas to liquid fuels/chemicals like diesel, ethanol and hydrogen gas for fuel cell applications.
Please refer to this link to learn more about Gasification technologies and processes.
Jan 5, 2011
Jan 4, 2011
Jan 3, 2011
Urine is a better source of hydrogen than water - TECH.BLORGE.com
Urine is a better source of hydrogen than water - TECH.BLORGE.comYou read that right. Urine is a better source of hydrogen than water. An added benefit is that rather than using clean water, which requires more energy to split into hydrogen and oxygen, waste stream urine can be used. Urine or specifically urea, uses less energy than water to generate hydrogen gas.
Ohio University associate Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, Gerardine Botte sees waste streams as our source for renewable fuel, specifically hydrogen. Hydrogen is considered the cleanest renewable fuel because all it generates is water. However, producing the hydrogen has proven too expensive to be cost effective.
Producing hydrogen gas from urine is much easier and cheaper than using water. Urea, which is a major component of urine, has four hydrogen atoms per molecule. Those hydrogen atoms are easier to split off than hydrogen atoms in water.
Botte has developed a new inexpensive nickel-based electrode that oxidizes the urea through electrolysis. Only .37V needs to be applied to urea to break it down, whereas, water requires 1.23V are needed to break down water making urea a cheaper and easier way to go.
Urea electrolysis
During the electrochemical process the urea gets adsorbed on to the nickel electrode surface, which passes the electrons needed to break up the molecule,’ Botte told Chemistry World. This process leads to pure hydrogen at the cathode and nitrogen with tiny amounts of oxygen and hydrogen are found at the anode. Carbon dioxide that is released during is not found in the resultant gases but “reacts to potassium hydroxide in the solution to form potassium carbonate”.
There are still issues that need to be ironed out. One of the major problems is the high cost of separating urea from water. Also, Botte’s team is “currently conducting long term stability studies on their electrolysis systems, as well as conducting computational experiments to better understand the mechanisms at work”.
Surely inexpensive methods can be used to collect the urine before it hits the water but those are probably easier for men than women. Some tinkering with toilets might provide a way to collect urine, but odor neutralizers would have to be included.
Botte’s team has found a cheap source and method for generating hydrogen gas. Now all we need is a cheap convenient way to collect the necessary urine.
Agoracom: Small Cap Investment - Home
Agoracom: Small Cap Investment - Home
I think even the long time bulls are left speechless by the amount of time we’ve waited. Notice there are no more RM or RF said… being posted on the board. The 1/1/11 prediction is getting less and less likely. I thought the Chinese were brought on to expedite a resolution and get things going! ...
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